


Of Fireworks, Hurricanes and Silly Little Love Songs

by little_werewolf



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-07
Updated: 2011-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-22 08:13:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/235990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_werewolf/pseuds/little_werewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Fireworks, Hurricanes and Silly Little Love Songs

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to my wonderful beta who is always there for me when I need her! Credit for fanart goes to deathjunke and Superproof.

_You don't have to feel like a waste of space  
You're original, cannot be replaced  
If you only knew what the future holds  
After a hurricane comes a rainbow_

  
"Name?"

“Remus Lupin.”

“Age?”

“22.”

“Orientation?”

“That's none of your business.”

 

  


  
[   
](https://sites.google.com/site/rsbbarchive/home/of-fireworks-hurricanes-and-silly-little-love-songs/remusssuperproof.jpg?attredirects=0)   


Sirius smirked. He had been sitting here with this guy for over fifteen minutes now, and it had seemed like the werewolf would never show a single sign of protest. Until now. Clearing his throat he looked back down at the file.

If he were to be honest with himself he hated this job. He hated this whole business of needing to have werewolves registered, being forced to listen to their screams, while having to reassure them that it was all for their own good. So he had started to devise a system. He would make sure that his cases were treated as humanely as possible, that they didn't get into trouble, while at the same time working on a new program that he hoped one day to be able to present to the Wizengamot. He knew that it was a far-fetched dream, but that had never stopped him before, so it wouldn’t now.

“When exactly were you bitten?” Sirius asked calmly, placing his arms on the table and folding his hands while looking at the other man with a warm and what he hoped to be a comforting smile.

“When I was four years old, but I’ve already stated that when I came in earlier on. Could we just get on with this so I can leave again?” the werewolf asked, obviously frustrated, and Sirius felt a small grin tug at his lips again. Usually, when werewolves came in here for registration they would be scared, wishing for anything to help them out of this situation, but this one seemed downright cocky. Sirius couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over the other man again and then let out a heavy sigh when he realised that he would have to get back to the topic at hand.

“The problem, Remus. I may call you Remus, right?” Sirius asked.

“If you must.”

“Remus, then. The problem is that you spent several years living with one of the most feared werewolves in the country. The Ministry isn’t just going to let you walk out of here, waving goodbye all friendly-like, and leave you alone for the rest of your life,” Sirius stated, pausing for a moment as he heard the familiar screams echoing through the walls. His eyes drifted back over to Remus’s face, and he could see the tiniest frown appear on the werewolf’s face.

“What was that?” Remus asked, and Sirius felt a brief moment of success as the other man’s walls seemed to finally come down a little.

“The registration process. Every werewolf who comes in for the registration has a number burned into his wrist,” Sirius explained. “Barbaric,” he added with a hushed whisper, shaking his head and looking away from Remus for a moment. He knew exactly what would be waiting for Remus upon leaving his office, and Sirius had no way of preventing it. The only thing he could do was to keep Remus out of Azkaban and make sure that he didn’t get into further trouble.

For a while the room was quiet as neither man spoke and Sirius could feel a heavy tension settling around them. It seemed to him that the werewolf finally realised what was happening, and what he was getting himself into, and once more Sirius felt sorry for him. He was immediately taken aback by his own feelings, however. He had never allowed himself to get so close to a person before, of course he had taken a personal interest in all of his cases, that’s why they came back to him, but it had never been like this. He quickly shook off the feeling again, looked back up at Remus and saw the werewolf’s expression rather firm, as if he was preparing for a fight.

 

  


  
[   
](https://sites.google.com/site/rsbbarchive/home/of-fireworks-hurricanes-and-silly-little-love-songs/werewolfwhispererdeathjunke.jpg?attredirects=0)   


“What do I have to do?” Remus asked, his voice showing no hint of emotion.

“You go through the registration process. There is no way around that. You get yourself a place to live, with a cellar to avoid having to come here every full moon. Stick to the weekly meetings and don’t get yourself into trouble. And you’ll be rid of me sooner than you know,” Sirius explained calmly. He put up an encouraging smile again, not letting it disappear as the other man didn’t return it. He was quickly starting to realise that Remus was going to be a hard nut to crack but he was willing to take it as an adventure.

When he heard no words of apprehension or rebuttal, Sirius nodded and then got out the next set of papers. He spent the next few minutes going through the papers with Remus, explaining to him where he had to sign and what was expected of him. When they were finally done there was a knock on the door and he knew that he had once more overdone his time. Sighing, Sirius pushed his chair back, watching Remus get up as well and lead him over to the door.

“Is there anyone who can pick you up?” Sirius asked before he opened the door, having seen some werewolves be strongly affected by the branding. The mere notion made Sirius cringe on the inside, trying his hardest not to let it show.

“No, but I’ll be alright. See you next week, Mr Black,” Remus replied, opening the door and heading out of the room without even a glance back.

Sirius just stood there for a moment, watching the other man’s back disappearing into the crowd and let out a heavy sigh. He ran a hand through his hair and then checked his watch. This had been the last appointment of the day, the only thing still waiting for him was his weekly meeting with James for a drink. Even if he wasn’t really in the mood for it, he knew he couldn’t leave his best friend hanging.

When Sirius arrived at their usual pub, the place was still quiet and he had to admit he was glad for it. The day had been eventful enough, and all he wanted was to have a beer with his best friend and then return to his flat. Stepping up to the bar, he ordered himself the said beer, then found their usual table. James wasn’t there yet, which meant that his friend’s day had probably been just as stressful as Sirius’s. Leaning back, Sirius took a long sip from the beer and reached out for the Daily Prophet on the table next to him.

 **‘Werewolf raid in England! Fenrir Greyback apprehended! Find out if your neighbour is a werewolf!’** the headline read proudly, including a picture of Greyback below. Grumbling, Sirius threw the Prophet back on the other table, instantly reaching out for his beer and taking another long sip. Of course it was a positive event and for some people probably a reason to party, but Sirius just thought of all the innocent werewolves who would now have to suffer under the consequences.

“And they call them monsters,” Sirius mumbled to himself. He was starting to wonder if he should try to contact James to see if he was really coming over, when he heard the front door of the pub open and saw his best friend enter. A smile immediately lit up his face, and he watched his best friend get himself a beer as well before heading over to Sirius.

“Sorry for being late, hell of a day,” James said as an excuse, pulling off his cloak and throwing it over an empty chair before moving to sit down.

“No need to tell me that, the office is full of people,” Sirius replied, lifting his glass in a toast and then taking another long sip of his beer. For a moment neither said anything as they relaxed in their chairs, letting the stressful day slide off their shoulders like a worn cloak, allowing them to go back to their normal lives.

Their lives hadn’t always been easy. There had been the war, the knowledge that they might not come out of it alive, and Sirius didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if they hadn’t realised that Pettigrew had been the traitor all along. A shudder crawled over Sirius’s back just at the memory, how they had found out, and how everything had finally seemed to come to an end. At least for now it seemed to be safe to go outside again, they didn’t have to worry when they went to bed at night that they wouldn’t wake up the next morning. Of course, there had also been losses along the way, and Sirius still visited his brother’s grave every week, still trying to understand where everything had gone wrong.

“Sirius!” James’s hand shaking his shoulder pulled Sirius abruptly out of his thoughts, a frightened expression on his face at first before he eventually calmed down again. He hadn’t always been this jumpy, but being around his best friend made him let his guard down, giving him the opportunity to be himself for a while.

“Sorry, James, you were saying something?” Sirius asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

“I was just asking how you were,” James asked in concern, and Sirius couldn’t help but narrow his eyes for a moment at his best friend. So alright, he hadn’t settled down yet. He enjoyed going out at night, spending the night at clubs, and maybe going home with a guy to have a good time. He could see nothing wrong with that. He had never experienced what people called true love and he doubted that he would any time soon. He of course couldn’t help but envy what James and Lily had, even if he didn’t understand it. However, he wasn’t ready to live the same kind of life.

“I am fine, James, nothing to worry about. How are Lily and Harry? Is the small Potter already causing mischief?” he asked with a broad grin, more than ready to change the subject to something else that didn’t concern himself. He could see James let out a frustrated sigh, and Sirius hoped sincerely that his friend wasn’t going to nag at him again but Sirius seemed to have a lucky night as a broad grin appeared on James’s face.

“He’s starting to use his first words. You should come over for lunch again on the weekend. It’s amazing how fast he is growing. It feels just a day ago the little bugger was born and now he’s growing, teething, and doing who knows what,” James replied with a broad smile, and Sirius felt immediately affected by the mood, all his worries forgotten for a moment.

He could still clearly remember the day Harry had been born. They had been in the middle of the war, they hadn’t found out about Peter yet and the world just seemed to be falling apart around them. Sirius hadn’t slept that night, still busy going over some papers for Dumbledore when the emergency Patronus had reached his flat. Scared that something bad had happened, he hadn’t wasted a second before apparating over to St. Mungo’s. He had been immediately greeted by a nerve-wracked James, who had no idea what he was doing and had suddenly looked rather overwhelmed with everything. They had both spent the next six hours at Lily’s bedside, watching the small rascal being born and he couldn’t help but smile fondly at the memory of holding his godson for the first time, promising him that he would do anything to keep him safe.

“So that’s why your hair is going grey around the edges?” Sirius teased, and he caught himself laughing out loud when James immediately reached for his hair as if to check whether he really was going grey. It had been such a long time since either of them had laughed like this, and it felt good, relieving, as if life was finally moving in a more positive direction.

“Not funny, Sirius, seriously,” James replied, cuffing Sirius on the back of his head. Grinning at each other, they ordered another round of beer. They weren’t out to get completely sloshed, Sirius knew what would happen to James if he came home drunk, and even Sirius didn’t want to suffer Lily’s wrath. Usually, Sirius would have a few drinks with his best friend and then, since they always met on Fridays, would go to his usual nightclub and then get sloshed. However, tonight Sirius simply wanted to go home, fall into his bed and sleep for hours.

For a while they just talked about this and that, catching up on each other’s week, and by the time Sirius glanced at his watch again it was already close to 10pm.

“I better get going, otherwise there will be hell to pay,” James muttered with a broad grin and got up from the table, stretching out and allowing Sirius the chance to let his eyes wander over his friend’s body.

“Hey, no peeking,” James teased and Sirius just grinned as he stood up as well. He felt tired to the bone and he knew that next week was only going to get worse. He had heard how the Ministry was planning to check every household that supposedly had a registered werewolf, including the places where sightings had been made, and he was expecting to have to put in a lot of extra hours.

“Aww, don’t worry, James, I won’t steal you away from your wife,” Sirius replied, wrapping his arm around James’s shoulders as they headed outside. The air was fresh and he closed his eyes for a moment, taking in some of the cool air and letting out a content sigh. Giving James’s shoulder a gentle squeeze he let go of his friend and put his hands in his pockets.

“You’ll be alright getting home?” James asked, pulling out his wand after checking that no one else was in sight.

“Of course, I am not the lightweight of the two of us,” Sirius replied with a grin, pulling out his own wand. He was just about to say goodbye and disapparate as he felt James’s hand on his arm, stopping him.

“You’ll tell me if there is something wrong, right?” he enquired and Sirius just looked at his friend for a moment, his expression blank.

“Of course I would. Now go home and be with your wife,” Sirius replied sincerely, shaking James’s arm off with a playful gesture. He was relieved when James seemed to be satisfied with that reply, giving Sirius another hug in goodbye and then disapparating home. Only then, did Sirius do the same, ending up in the living room of his spacious flat in Canterbury. No matter how much he loved London, he enjoyed the fact that he didn’t live in the city, but somewhere more peaceful where he wouldn’t constantly cross someone’s way.

“Home, sweet home,” Sirius mumbled to himself. Kicking off his shoes and throwing his jacket over the back of the couch, he headed straight to the kitchen, fetched himself another bottle of beer and then entered his study. It was a messy place and a soft groan escaped his lips as he turned on the light. Promising himself that sooner or later he would clean up this mess, he headed over to his desk in the corner and sat down. Running a hand through his hair he took a sip from the bottle, then rolled up his shirt sleeves ready to once more continue working on his project.

The next day, Sirius woke up to gentle nudges from a cold, wet nose against his own. At first his hand reached up, intending to bat away the intruder, then curled around the back of the cat’s head instead, stroking gently through the fur.

"Already time to get up, Perseus?" Sirius asked with a soft smile. Eventually the man’s eyes blinked open, turning his head slowly to look at the clock on his nightstand. He groaned softly when he saw that it was already 1pm, realising that all the grocery stores would be closed if he didn't get a move on. Closing his eyes again, Sirius put an arm over his eyes and tried to wake up some more. His peace was however short-lived as his cat persistently pushed his head under his arm.

"Yes yes, I am getting up already," Sirius mumbled, a grin spreading on his face. Rolling off the bed, he picked up the spare shirt from the floor and then reached out for his cat, cradling it against his chest.

"You know as bossy a cat as you are, you should be glad that I still keep you around," Sirius teased while heading into the kitchen. It wasn't a huge place, considering what he was able to afford, but he didn't need more. The whole place consisted of a living room, a cozy kitchen that also served as a dining room, a bedroom and a small study where he kept all his knicks and knacks.

He sat his cat down on the kitchen counter, the dining table being the only place he had managed to keep Perseus away from, and then reached down to pick up the cat’s bowls. Humming to himself, he cleaned up the bowls and then refilled them with fresh water and cat food. As soon as he placed the bowls on the floor, his cat jumped back down and started eating with small satisfied sounds. Grinning to himself as he watched him, Sirius turned on the coffee machine and then reached out for the Daily Prophet on the kitchen table. There was nothing of interest that he hadn’t seen the day before, so even before the coffee was done he had thrown the paper into the nearest bin.

Downing the rest of the coffee with a large gulp, Sirius headed for the shower. He was showered and dressed fairly quickly. He had never been one for long showers, not seeing the use for it. He had had lovers who could easily spend 30 minutes in the shower without being done, and while Sirius had learned to appreciate what one might do together in the shower, he never could rightfully understand it.

Once he was fully dressed, had found his wallet and had checked his fridge for what he might need, Sirius grabbed his helmet, keys and leather jacket and headed outside. He grinned broadly as he walked up to his motor cycle and checked it over before he climbed on. It still sent a pleasant thrill down his spine as he imagined what his mother would think if she saw him riding one of these things, his parents had always been against everything from the Muggle world. So when they on top of everything else had realised that Sirius wasn’t likely to produce an heir for the Black family, all hell had broken loose. He shook his head at the memory where he had been proposed with a wife, a well structured future and more money then he could even imagine. And he had thrown it all away for a life of freedom, and knowing that he would die as a happy man.

Thinking of his parents reminded him of his brother and he couldn’t help but frown for a moment. Regulus had been everything that their parents had wanted. However, this had brought the life that Sirius had escaped from. Now all that was left of him was a grave that he at least visited once a week, to make sure that his brother knew that Sirius hadn’t forgotten him. Sirius quickly shook off the thoughts again and concentrated on the street he was driving on.

It didn’t take long before he reached the local market, glad to see all the people bustling about. Once he had finally found a parking spot, he charmed his helmet smaller and put it in his pocket before heading towards his usual shops. Usually, Sirius didn’t mind surprises, always living from one day to the next, but going grocery shopping had become a ritual for him that he didn’t want to live without. It was the only real ritual that was important for him, and it felt like something was missing if he didn’t do this once a week.

Sirius took his time looking through the shops, stopping here and there when he saw something interesting. He was just about to enter the butcher’s when he saw a familiar face. Frowning he stopped in his tracks, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings to find that face again. It didn’t take long before he caught sight of the person, and he felt a soft smile appear on his face as he saw that it was none other than Remus Lupin. There had been something about the werewolf that had intrigued Sirius, made him want to know more about him, and he couldn’t stop himself watching the other man for a moment. It was strange how shy he suddenly felt, normally he would walk straight up to people he felt attracted to. But was he attracted to Remus Lupin? However, before he could manage to wrap his mind around that question a person blocked his view.

“Why, if it isn’t Sirius Black,” the tall man said and Sirius scowled for a moment, before the schooled smile appeared on his face. He found himself face to face with Anthony Hudgsen, a broad muscled guy, with short blond hair and blue eyes that apparently attracted women. He could pull off the innocent face like a pro, and Sirius had seen more people than was healthy sneaking off to the bathroom with him. The two met occasionally for a good fuck, and neither of them seemed interested in more, which was more than alright for Sirius. Even if Anthony had the good looks, and a nice cock as well, he wasn’t the kind of person Sirius wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

“Anthony, this is a surprise, what are you doing out here?” Sirius asked conversationally. He tried to glance past the other man, and scowled for a moment as Remus had disappeared from sight. Shaking his previous thoughts away he looked back at Anthony.

“Getting out of town, away from all the hassle,” Anthony replied, and Sirius didn’t miss it as the man took a step closer, moving right into Sirius’s comfort zone. “You wouldn’t by any chance have the time to keep me company?” he added and Sirius felt a smirk growing. Usually, he would have worked on his project, but he was never one to say no to a good fuck. He licked his lips and looked down at his shopping bags, figuring out how long it would take him to get the things he still needed for the weekend.

“Well, if you come to my flat, in let’s say about an hour, I would definitely not say no,” Sirius said with a cocky grin. Winking at Anthony he turned around to head into the butcher’s.

Said hour later, Sirius was back at his flat already unpacking his groceries. However, no matter how hard he had tried in the last 60 minutes he couldn't get himself to look forward to Anthony coming over. Time and again Remus's face would appear in his mind instead, and he would catch himself contemplating how interesting it might be to spend some private time with the man. Sirius shook his head, letting his head rest against the fridge door.

"Get a grip of yourself, Black," he mumbled, only looking up as he felt Perseus rubbing along his calves. Sirius picked his cat up and pressed his face into the soft fur. It was strange for him to be this thoughtful, had it been a normal day he would already be planning all the possible ways of making Anthony come. He shook his head, pressed a kiss against Perseus's head and put his cat back down on the floor.

"Feeding time's later," he chided softly and then headed for the living room as he heard the doorbell ring.

Sighing softly, he headed for the front door, then opened it and greeted Anthony with a broad smile. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he saw the man holding up a bottle of wine and a packet of condoms. Shaking his head in amusement he let the other man step inside and closed the door behind him. As soon as the door was closed, all his thoughts about Remus were forgotten as he was pushed against the wall and felt his mouth and body being attacked by warm lips and hands. Without resisting Sirius let himself relax into the feeling, he could think later, later when he didn’t have such a wonderful distraction.

Sirius didn’t think of Remus Lupin until their next meeting the following week. It had been a busy week, and when Sirius hadn’t been at the office he had been at home in his study, working on his project. Every now and then James would join him for the evening, and they would discuss life and work, and then get back to their normal routine. Sirius had almost forgotten his weekly appointment until it was Friday afternoon and Lupin’s face looked into his office.

“Sorry, am I too early?” Remus asked, his voice slightly hoarse as if he had been through a bad cold and was still suffering from the after-effects.

“No no, please come in,” Sirius replied immediately once he had recovered from the surprise, giving the werewolf a warm smile and motioning him inside of his office.

The first thing Sirius noticed as Remus sat down was that he appeared rather tired, there were rings around those amber eyes and the skin was pale. Of course, he had seen werewolves practically come apart under the force of the Ministry and it wasn’t unknown for werewolves to even commit suicide when the pressure became too much. Sirius had counted himself lucky that this hadn’t happened to any of his clients so far and that he hadn’t been forced to identify anyone at the morgue. However, now he was starting to get worried that his luck was running out.

“How are you doing, Remus?” Sirius asked once he had managed to tear his eyes away from the werewolf and had found the man’s folder among all the others on his desk.

“Still none of your business,” Remus replied, and Sirius couldn’t help but grin as he noticed that no matter how tired the werewolf looked there was apparently still some defiance left inside him.

“Just making small talk, nothing wrong with that,” Sirius said with a warm smile and then looked back down at the folder. There were no additional notes of any events that he should know about and he was glad for that. Then at least Remus was making sure to keep out of trouble, or at least Sirius hoped so. Letting out a small sigh he looked back up at Remus and saw the other man looking away from him, an expression on his face as if there was something heavy on his mind.

“Have you found a place to live?” he asked, not wanting to let Remus leave already but hoping that he could get the werewolf to open up a little. He received nothing but a wall of silence, making Sirius lean his elbows on the table, looking at Remus with an inquisitive expression.

“Remus... I am not trying to make your life harder; I am trying to help you even if it might not look like it right now. But the more you don’t cooperate, the less I will be able to keep the Ministry off your back. I know there’s been a lot of changes for you lately, but…” Sirius was cut off in mid-sentence as Remus suddenly jumped out of his chair, letting it tumble backwards on to the floor, the expression on his face downright murderous.

“You don’t know anything, Black, so don’t act like you care. You’re just as false as everyone else here in this building, so don’t try and make me believe that you’re any different,” Remus snarled and Sirius could only watch as Remus stormed out of his office.

For a moment Sirius just stared at the open door, before he eventually managed to get up to raise the chair again. He had just pushed it back into place as his door squeaked open and he turned to see his colleague peeking inside with a smug expression on his face. “Had the first one to run away from you, Black?” Nikolas asked, and it took Sirius all his self control not to have a go at the other man. He had never liked Nikolas, whenever they spoke he was always reminded way too much of his family. When he had started in the Department of Magical Creatures they had gotten along at first, until the day Sirius had seen how the other man treated his cases. Since that day on the two were at war, and Nikolas hadn’t wasted any second making Sirius’s life as miserable as possible.

Not replying to the man’s question, he simply started clearing up his desk for the day. He didn’t have any appointments left and he had planned to spend the evening at home with a good movie, and just let his mind relax after the busy week. When he looked up again, however, Nikolas was still standing in the doorway, the smug expression still firmly plastered on the man’s face.

“You wanted something?” Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow, putting the last papers onto a pile on his desk.

“Just surprised how the ‘werewolf whisperer’ suddenly can’t deal with such a simple case,” Nikolas mocked, crossing his arms and standing up a little taller. Sirius snorted as he watched the other man’s attempt of making himself look more imposing, and reached out for his cloak hanging behind him on the wall. Nikolas would grow bored sooner or later and Sirius could continue as if nothing had happened.

“I always thought you were being too soft with them, Black. Eventually, the day will come where you wish that you had acted differently,” the man continued making Sirius sigh deeply and once more look at him. It was becoming more and more difficult not to talk back at Nikolas, not to beat that smirk off the man’s face, a smirk that seemed to be growing with every moment that passed. Sirius even knew how he would do it. He wouldn’t attack him with magic, no; he would surprise Nikolas with a punch to the jaw, followed by the next into the stomach and a kick in the side as soon as he had the man on the floor. And only then would he spit at him, making him feel like he had made all those werewolves feel and then he would leave, finally feeling satisfied.

The real world, however, looked extremely different. Nikolas was higher up in the ranks than Sirius, and he knew that if he attacked him in any way, be it verbally or physically, he would be out of here quicker then he could say Quidditch. So instead, Sirius gritted his teeth and put on a brave face, knowing that there wasn’t really anything else he could do..

“That is what makes us different, Nikolas. I don’t forget that I have a person sitting opposite me. Now, if you will excuse me,” Sirius said calmly as he approached the door and attempted to move past him. For a moment he thought the other man was going to stop him, but the sound of people talking made the man pull back, leaving Sirius free to leave. Nodding at Nikolas, Sirius reached up to close the clasp of his cloak and then headed for the elevators, just wanting to get out of this hellhole.

Sirius didn’t see Remus the following week, nor the week after that. At first he had hoped that the other man had just forgotten, ending up staying extra hours in the Ministry in case the werewolf would show up. However, when the man hadn’t appeared for the second time, Sirius was starting to get worried. He ended up checking with his colleagues, wondering whether Nikolas was trying to get back at him and in the process had taken him off Remus’s case. However, that hadn’t been the case, the only result was Sirius having to listen to Nikolas’s mocking laugh, and his superior warning him not to get too involved.

Still, Sirius couldn’t help but worry, and the more he worried the more curious he became about Remus Lupin.

When Remus had missed the first appointment, Sirius had brought the werewolf’s folder home with him and had spent the night reading through it. Remus had been born near Plymouth, son to John and Marie Lupin. He was an only child, and from what he could tell from the records had gone missing at the age of 4. A search report had never been filed, and he had been announced presumed dead some years later. That was until Greyback’s pack had been raided. Apparently, Remus had been kidnapped, for a reason as yet unknown, and had grown up with the pack. When Remus had arrived at the Ministry, the health report had shown the man to be in a good state, that he was able to read and write, and that there were no mental deficiencies. What had made Sirius frown, however, was the investigations on whether the man was a wizard or not, and once more he cursed the system for all its hate towards werewolves.

He had read articles on how dangerous it was to have your magical core suppressed. That after a while it might get out of control or even impossible to bring back to full energy. There had been cases where witches and wizards had been put in the intensive care unit at St.Mungo’s, surrounded by strong spells to protect them from themselves. Or those who had ended up living like Muggles because they were no longer able to manage even the smallest spell. He didn’t want either to happen to anyone who had the chance to use magic, and he promised himself he would ask Remus about it the next time he saw him.

Once Sirius had read all the information he could possibly find about the werewolf, he had started quietly searching for the man. James had of course asked him where Sirius was always disappearing to, and had chided Sirius when the man had admitted what he was doing. Still, Sirius couldn’t make himself stop, and not even when he ended up in the dodgy part of London where he knew that everything not human assembled, was he anywhere close to giving up.

Had he known that a month would pass by before he finally saw Remus again, Sirius would have put even more effort into his search.

It had been the middle of the night as the owl from the Ministry had arrived, ordering him to come in immediately, informing him that one of his werewolves had gotten himself into trouble. Having guessed that it was one of the new cases he had gotten the previous week, he was already putting his bets on Graham, who had gone as far as to nearly beat up one of the Aurors, Sirius hadn’t wasted any time to get dressed and had apparated straight over to the Ministry. What he found surprised him deeply as he saw none other than Remus Lupin sitting in the questioning room, his head bowed, his wrists handcuffed behind his back. Taking in a deep breath, Sirius immediately motioned for the Aurors to leave the room and then stepped up to the werewolf. The man looked even worse than the last time Sirius had seen him, and he immediately felt a deep concern spreading through his body..

“Remus, it’s me, Sirius,” Sirius said softly as he approached the werewolf, moving to crouch down in front of him so that he could have a better look at the other man’s face. Remus’s lower lip was split, there was a dark bruise forming just below his right eye, and he seemed to be staring blankly ahead of himself as if he was looking straight through Sirius. It was then Sirius noticed how deeply Remus was breathing as if it was taking all his self control to remain sitting in that chair right at that moment. Sirius turned his head to glare at the door behind him for a moment, wondering what the Aurors had done to get Remus into such a state and then looked back at the werewolf.

“I know you don’t like me, but you’ve got to tell me what happened, Remus. You’ve got to let me help you. Or they will put you into custody,” Sirius said, his voice laced with concern as he reached out to tentatively place his hand on Remus’s knee and giving it what he hoped to be a comforting squeeze.

At first, there was no visible reaction showing that Remus had even heard him, and for a moment Sirius was worried that he wouldn’t be able to do a single thing to help him. He knew that there were other ears in this room, and that if he didn’t come up with a plausible answer they would take Remus away and lock him up. He was about to give up as he saw the other man lift his head a little and look at Sirius, amber eyes suddenly rather alert as he looked down at Sirius.

“My landlord found out that I’m a werewolf,” Remus said, his voice even hoarser then it had been weeks before. Knowing that he finally had gotten through to Remus, Sirius stayed quiet for now. He didn’t want to risk the werewolf going stubborn on him again, and have him going to Azkaban with the first Auror in the morning.

“He tried to kick me out of my flat,” the werewolf continued. Sirius, whose hand was still resting on Remus’s knee, gave it another gentle squeeze motioning for him to continue. He knew that the more information he had, the better chance he had of getting Remus safely out of this.

“I told him that we had a contract, and that he would have to give me at least a month’s notice. It ended up in a fight and he called the Aurors. I have been here since early in the evening,” Remus explained and Sirius felt a cold shudder go through his body. Grimacing, he got up to his feet, his hand instinctively reaching for the wand in his pocket to make sure that it was still there and then looked back at Remus. This was the reason why he was working for the Department of Magical Creatures, because he had told himself that he wasn’t going to stand for the way the Ministry dealt with certain people. However, right now he could feel himself hating his job more and more with every moment.

“I’ll be right back,” Sirius said sincerely and then moved towards the door that led to the waiting room. He looked back for a moment as he heard a small noise coming from the man, looking a little surprised as he saw Remus’s head raised, watching him with an expression that held so much more emotion then any of the words they had shared. Sirius could feel his heart constrict in his chest, and he tried his best to put a reassuring expression on his face. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you here,” he said, meeting his eyes for a moment and then stepped out of the room.

Sirius wasn’t surprised as the two Aurors immediately came up to him, and he put up his best glare possible. “Can you tell me the reason as to why when you took Remus into custody a few hours ago I was only informed now?” Sirius asked calmly, his voice cold and deadly serious. For a moment he actually wished that James was here, knowing that it would make things a lot easier for all of the people involved.

“It’s part of protocol, Black, that’s none of your business. Have you asked all the questions you needed? We’ve got orders to bring him straight to Azkaban,” the Auror replied and Sirius could feel an ice cold anger spreading through his body. Without thinking what he was doing, he pulled out his wand and pointed it straight at the Auror’s throat.

“There is no protocol I know that works like that, and trust me I know, I have learned all of them. And there is not a single one saying that a werewolf should be taken to Azkaban for a civil disagreement. So you listen to me now because I am not going to repeat myself. You are going to release him, and you’re going to write the report using the real facts or I will make your life a living hell, you can trust me on that,” Sirius warned, his fingers tight around his wand.

“Are you trying to threaten me, Black?” the Auror asked, still attempting to make himself tall and imposing in front of Sirius.

“So what if I was? You don’t have anything to charge me with. Such a small guy as you can’t harm me at all,” Sirius sided and he sensed that he might have gone one step too far as he felt another wand being pointed at him. For a while neither of them moved, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move. If Sirius didn’t have another person to worry about he wouldn’t have minded a good roughhousing, but right now he had Remus to think of, and he was going to do his damn well best to keep his promise.

“Now look, you’ve got two good options; one, you let me take Remus along and this little incident will be forgotten; or the second option, you take him along and then tomorrow you will have to explain to your boss why you were threatening one of your colleagues with a wand. And let me reassure you I know James Potter personally and I am sure he will be more than happy to take all of this into his own hands,” Sirius said calmly, and for a moment he was shocked how much he suddenly sounded like his own father. He quickly shook the feeling off and then looked back down at the younger Auror, patiently waiting for some kind of reaction.

He watched with satisfaction as the young Auror grew pale in front of him, and without hesitation gave a short nod. Motioning towards the door he then followed the two men into the room and watched with a satisfied smile as the cuffs immediately disappeared from Remus’s wrists.

“I won’t be needing the two of you anymore, I am sure you have more pressing matters to attend to,” Sirius continued, giving them once more a darker glare and then watched with amusement as the two ‘boys’ ran off. Shaking his head he walked back over to Remus, who was now rubbing his wrists and looking at Sirius with a cautious expression. Sirius once more looked over his shoulder to make sure that both the Aurors had left and then looked at Remus with a reassuring expression.

“So, what are the options?” Remus asked before Sirius had the chance to say anything. Truth be told, Sirius hadn’t really considered what he was going to do next, and he scratched the side of his head for a moment lost in thought. He knew that he couldn’t just let Remus leave again, who knew what the other man would get himself into, especially now when he had no place to go. So there was really only one option left.

“Well, you can either go and tell those nice guys that you’ll join them after all, or you can come and stay with me,” Sirius replied, raising an eyebrow at Remus. He could practically see the werewolf thinking over his options and he wondered whether he would be able to hear those wheels turning in the man’s mind were Remus to think any harder. Sirius blushed as he suddenly caught himself staring, which was only met by a rebellious glare and a huff from Remus’s side, which Sirius found himself realising that he thought to be rather cute.

“You can’t be serious..” Remus started, giving Sirius the immediate chance to try and lighten up the mood a little.

“So you do know my name,” Sirius noted, a grin growing on his face, “And no, I am always seriously Sirius,” Sirius countered, his grin growing considerably as he saw Remus looking at him with a dark glare. He resisted the urge to reach out and ruffle through the other man’s hair, and instead just held his hand out to him.

Sirius could clearly see the amount of willpower it took for Remus before he managed to reach out and take Sirius’s outstretched hand, and it gave him hope that there was still a possibility that he had finally somehow managed to get through to the werewolf. Giving Remus’s hand a gentle squeeze, he helped the other man up to his feet and then led him out of the room and towards the disapparation area, hoping that he was doing the right thing.

 

***

 _Tell me would you kill to save a life_  
 _Tell me would you kill to prove you're right_  
 _Crash crash_  
 _Burn let it all burn_  
 _This hurricane's chasing us all underground_

  
Getting home was easier then Sirius had thought it would be. They had managed to quickly get to the disapparation room without anyone stopping them, and only as they were standing in Sirius’s living room did he let go of Remus’s hand. Still with his wand in hand, he lightened up the room with a small flick of his wand, glad that he hadn’t been home so much lately and as such didn’t have too messy a place to come back to.

“It’s not much, but it’s home. I have some spare bedding in the bedroom, I’ll get that… And then we can pull out the couch as a bed for you. I’ll transfigure you a proper bed tomorrow and make space in the study for you. And we’ll have to get some clothes for you, and get the rest of the stuff from your flat…” Sirius found himself suddenly mumbling, only stopping as he saw Remus watching him with a confused expression. He wondered for a moment whether the other man still didn’t believe that Sirius meant him no harm, or if he maybe just wasn’t used to being treated like this. It made Sirius realise, that no matter how much he had learned Remus’s file by heart, there was still so much to learn about the werewolf that no words would be able to explain.

Feeling suddenly at a loss for words, Sirius motioned for Remus to take a seat on the couch and then headed for his bedroom. As he started getting the extra bedsheets out of the cupboard, it was then he finally realised the mess he had gotten himself into. He had invited a werewolf to stay in his flat, one that didn’t like him very much, and one who seemed to be thinking that Sirius was from another planet and had two heads with the way he had been looking at him. Groaning to himself, Sirius let his head rest against the closed cupboard door for a moment and then stood up straight again. He had gotten himself into this so he would also deal with it, and after all, he couldn’t just have let them take Remus to Azkaban.

Once he had everything he needed he headed back into the living room, smiling as he saw Remus sitting on the couch with Perseus on his lap. It made Sirius stop in his steps as he saw the small faint smile on the other man’s lips. It was the first time he saw Remus come remotely close to smiling, and Sirius had to admit that it suited the werewolf rather well, feeling like he would have to make sure to see that smile more often from now on.

“That’s Perseus,” Sirius said as he saw Remus’s eyes back on him, embarrassed for a moment at having been caught staring, then moved closer and placed the bedding over the arm of the couch. “He’s a spoiled rotten thing, but he keeps me company,” he explained with a small shrug.

Getting no answer, Sirius watched as Remus put his attention back to petting his cat, making him feel rather useless, a feeling that he felt rather foreign with and didn’t like at all. He waited for another few minutes and then cleared his throat, guessing that he should give Remus some space. “I will just go to bed then. The bathroom is over there and the kitchen there,” he said, pointing to the bathroom and kitchen as he explained. “Just make yourself at home should you need something… I… well, goodnight,” Sirius mumbled and then headed for his bedroom.

He glanced over his shoulder once more before he disappeared completely into his bedroom, smiling as he saw Remus getting up from the couch and started spreading out his bedding. Nodding to himself he stepped into his bedroom and closed the door behind himself. He didn’t waste any time before he got out of his clothes and climbed back into bed. Feeling too exhausted to think any further, Sirius let himself succumb to sleep, telling himself that he would deal with everything the next morning.

When Sirius awoke the next morning his head felt blissfully blank for a moment. He curled up deeper in the blankets and let his eyes close again for a second. Everything felt right in his mind for once, work was going alright, life was doing fine, there was nothing he had to worry about… Sirius suddenly sat up in shock as he remembered what had happened. He had a werewolf sleeping in his living room. Well, at least he hoped that Remus was still there and hadn’t decided to leave some time during the night.

Getting out of bed, Sirius reached out for something to wear, and then as quietly as possible opened the door to his bedroom and stepped outside. He tentatively dared a glance over to the couch, and couldn’t help but smile as he saw that Remus was still there.

The werewolf was lying faced towards the back of the couch, his body curled tightly around the blanket, holding on to it as if his life depended on it. It made Sirius want to walk over to the other man, cover him properly with the blanket again and soothe all the worries from the other man’s mind. However, he quickly pushed any such thoughts from his mind again. It would go past any kind of trust that he had managed to build between himself and Remus during the last few hours, and it would only confirm what Sirius had been thinking of the last few days. Namely, that he was indeed putting too much effort into this case, and that he apparently had more feelings for the werewolf than he should have. Also, he hardly knew this man, so it simply wasn’t possible that he could have any kind of feelings for him.

Before he could let himself continue this train of thought, Sirius headed for the kitchen, closing the door quietly behind himself and then heading straight for the coffee machine. He stopped for a moment, a small frown creasing his forehead, as he saw an owl sitting on top of it, holding out a roll of parchment. He knew that he shouldn’t have been too surprised at seeing it in his kitchen, but he was still tired and things only got logical after he had had his first cup of coffee.

“You won’t let me have a coffee first, will you?” Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow. Not expecting any kind of reply, he reached out for the parchment and unrolled it slowly in his hands.

 _Dear Sirius,_

 _It has come to my attention that you threatened two of our Aurors last night, and have apprehended a werewolf from the Ministry grounds._ Sirius had to stop reading at that point, letting out a small laugh at the words written in that sentence. “Apprehended a werewolf, indeed.” Sirius murmured to himself with a shake of his head. Those bastards had probably left out the fact that they had only contacted Sirius hours after the arrest, and that Remus had been in a state that no person, werewolf or not, should have been in. Shooing the owl from the coffee machine, he reached for the switch to turn it on and then turned his attention back to the letter.

 _While I understand your noble actions, and I am sure that you must have had your reasons for this course of action, such actions cannot be accepted from a person employed in my department. As such, I will sadly have to inform you that you have been suspended from the office for 5 work days, at the end of which you will be expected to return to your office. Should such an act repeat itself we will have to take further actions into consideration._

 _I wish you a nice day still._

 _Kind regards,_

 _Fitzgerald Emmet_

Sirius reread the letter a second time and then let out a small snort before rolling it up in his hands and throwing it into the nearby bin. Taking his mug from the sink, he filled it up with the now freshly brewed coffee and took a small sip from it. Only then, did he head for the fridge to add some milk and then reached out for a cube of sugar, plopping it into the coffee. He then noticed the owl still sitting on his windowsill and he couldn’t help but let out another small laugh.

“You’re not getting anything back from me. If he thinks I am going to back down then he has thought wrong, so you can fly back and stop annoying me,” Sirius said feeling more grumpy with every word. Stepping up to the windowsill he motioned for the owl to finally leave his flat and then closed the window behind it. Letting out a heavy sigh, he was just about to sit down at the kitchen table and hope that at least the rest of the morning wouldn’t bring any more bad news when he heard a startled scream from the living room.

Jumping slightly in surprise, Sirius cursed as he spilled coffee all over his hands. Putting the mug down on the counter, he grabbed one of the kitchen towels and attempted to dry his hands as he rushed out of the kitchen. The scene that greeted him in his living room should have made him laugh, but right now it could only make him shake his head in frustration. James was standing in the middle of the living room, pointing his wand at Remus who was standing in front of the couch, his hair tousled, apparently attempting to appear threatening as he faced James.

“Seriously, put that wand down, you’re going to poke someone’s eye out,” Sirius grumbled, letting his body relax in relief, knowing now that nothing serious had happened. He simply raised an eyebrow as both of the men now looked at him as if Sirius had suddenly grown two heads, making him want to hit them both over the head several times.

“Remus, this is James, my best friend, one day to be head of the Auror Department and sometimes a little bit thick in the head,” Sirius said to Remus as introduction, stepping closer to the two of them. As he did so, he reached out to put his hand on top of James’s wand, pushing it gently down and then stepping up to his friend, pulling him into a side hug and ruffling once through his hair.

“James, this is Remus,” he said, now introducing James to Remus. “Werewolf, currently unemployed, and my new flatmate,” Sirius said with a broad grin, which only broadened as he saw Remus turning to look at him with a dark glare. “And apparently he thinks I am going to maim him in his sleep…” Sirius continued, not able to stop himself from teasing the werewolf a little. He knew that he should probably be a little bit more serious right now, but with what had happened the night before and knowing that James probably didn’t come over to have a friendly chat with him, it made Sirius want to lighten up the mood a little.

“I need to speak with you,” James said, grasping Sirius’s arm and pulling him towards the study. Sirius looked over at Remus with an apologetic expression, letting himself be lead into the study and closing the door behind himself and James. He watched with a tired smile as James cast a silencing spell around the room and then looked at Sirius with an expression, that probably meant to ask if Sirius had gone crazy.

“What?” Sirius asked, remembering suddenly that his coffee was still standing in the kitchen, and that it would be cold by the time he would be returning to it.

“What?! You have the nerve to ask what? You took a werewolf home with you, Sirius, are you completely out of your mind? This is one of Greyback’s pack members, and by the way he glared at you he probably wouldn’t have a problem with breaking your neck in your sleep. And you ask me what?” James asked angrily. Sirius just stared at his best friend for a moment, and wondered what in the hell had gotten his friend’s mood that sour. Okay, so maybe Sirius had gone a little bit overboard by doing this, but he had hoped that he would have at least James backing him up.

“Remus is not like that,” Sirius at the end said seriously, crossing his arms as he looked at the other man with a determined expression.

“How do you know that? How can you say that, when you don’t even know him?” James asked, his expression softening a little.

“I just know… just trust me on that, please,” Sirius said sincerely, and he felt a tentative smile grow on his face as he saw James’s whole body posture relax. Sirius was just about to turn around to leave again, to make sure that Remus hadn’t taken the chance to make a run for it, when he felt James grasp his wrist.

“I am just worried about you, mate. And I don’t want you ending up getting involved with something that will give you more trouble than you’re ready for,” James said and Sirius was glad that all of this foolish behaviour from his best friend was only because he was concerned about him.

“It will be alright, you’ll see, just give him a chance, please,” Sirius replied, smiling in relief when James nodded and let go of Sirius’s arm again. Giving the other man a reassuring glance he stepped out of the room, and glanced over to the couch, where he saw Remus staring out of the window seemingly lost in thought.

“So, who’s up for pancakes?” Sirius asked, rubbing his hands together and mentally preparing himself for the upcoming 24 hours.

That day was really something that Sirius had sincerely wished could have gone by faster, or just skipped completely, so they could have had all the problems done and dealt with. While Remus seemed to have accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to leave Sirius’s place any time soon, that is, if he didn’t have a wish of calling Azkaban his new home, he still didn’t seem all that willing to open up to Sirius. So Sirius had done what he always did when he was stubborn about something, he acted on instinct and ignored if the person liked it or not and simply watched the reaction.

After having had a long breakfast, which was mostly held alive by Sirius and James talking continuously and Remus just watching them, where James at the end had still had the nerve to ask if Sirius was really sure that he could be left alone with him, Sirius had taken a quick shower and apparated into London to get some of the main essentials for Remus. This had included some trousers, shirts, some new sets of robes, and whatever he thought a man at Remus’s age needed.

When he had arrived home with all of his shopping he had been met with the first shouting match of the day. At the end, Sirius had simply let Remus shout until his throat was hoarse, and then had told him calmly that he would now prepare a room for him, suggesting that he could either help or continue sulking in a corner. That was when Sirius learned that Remus apparently took things literally and had taken the option to sulk in a corner. After throwing his hands up in defeat, he had moved into his study and started preparing everything for Remus.

After a bit of work, he had somehow managed to transfigure a bed and a wardrobe, putting everything into what he hoped to be a comfortable-looking setting. Once he was satisfied with the end result, he turned his attention to his messy desk. He was just arranging all his papers when Remus had finally gotten over some of his stubbornness and came into the room to check on Sirius.

“What did you do?” Remus had asked, and Sirius couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, pulling his papers against his chest and reaching out for some of the books he would still be needing.

“I have made you a bed and wardrobe for your clothes,” Sirius had calmly explained, looking at Remus with a warm smile.

“Why?” Remus had asked, and for a moment Sirius had felt an irresistible urge to take the werewolf’s head in his hands and hit it against the wall, in the hope that the cell that was named common sense would finally come to life.

“Because you need a place to stay and I can’t have you sleeping on my couch the whole time. What kind of host would I be otherwise,” Sirius had explained and he had to admit that it sounded rather logical in his head. For Remus apparently, it wasn’t.

That was when the second fight of the day had hollered through the flat, and it had once more been Sirius who at the end had pulled the shortest route out. He had calmly told Remus that he apparently had his knickers in a rather stupid twist, he could either take this offer or see where the hell he would land because Sirius was getting to the point where he just didn’t care anymore. This had resulted in a door being slammed behind Sirius, and Remus not leaving the room for the rest of the day.

Sirius hadn’t thought to be worried about it at first, and it was only as he was getting some dinner ready and there was still no sign of Remus coming out of the room that he wondered if he should check on him. However, Sirius also had his pride, and if Remus wanted to refuse the help Sirius was offering, he was going to stop trying to force it upon him. So after having his own share of food, and placing the rest in the fridge for Remus, he retreated to the living room.

Spreading all his papers over the coffee table, Sirius moved to sit down on the floor in front of it, letting his back lean against the couch. “Well, at least now I’ll have more time to work on this,” he mumbled to himself. Summoning a quill and a bottle of ink, he started scribbling on the parchment in front of him, writing everything down that came to mind. He had been so deeply immersed in his work that he hadn’t even heard the door open, letting out a small cry of surprise as he suddenly saw Remus standing in front of him.

Remus looked absolutely dreadful. His hair was a mess as if he had been sleeping all day, his eyes swollen, skin pale and Sirius could clearly see the slight twitch in the other man’s lips, as if he was holding on to the very last of his self control.. Feeling concern instantly wash through him, Sirius patted the floor next to him, smiling as Remus followed the invitation and moved to sit down next to him.

“What are you doing?” Remus asked, and Sirius could hear from the tone of his voice that the other man must indeed have been crying.

“Ohh, this…” Sirius started, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. He had never talked about his project to anyone, not even James, but he guessed he couldn’t hide it from his new flatmate. “This is a little project of mine. Since I started working for the Department of Magical Creatures, I have made it a mission of mine to improve the rules and regulations for werewolves. But if I want to request a hearing on the matter, I need to have a whole plan set and ready. I’ve been at it for a while,” Sirius explained. He tilted his head slightly to the side to see Remus’s reaction, chuckling softly as he saw that now all so familiar confused expression on Remus’s face.

“Why? I mean, it’s not as if anyone has ever cared before,” Remus asked in confusion. Sirius couldn’t help but smile at that, leaning back against the couch and crossing his arms behind his head.

“That’s exactly the reason why. People stick by things because they have been there for over centuries, not caring that our current day might be completely different. Some day, there has got to be someone to take the initiative,” he replied and Sirius closed his eyes for a moment as he could already see it all in front of him. There he was, head of the Department of Magical Creatures, everyone would be looking up to him, topped by the delicious thought of his parents turning in their graves.

“But you’re a Black,” Remus retorted, pulling Sirius immediately out of his thoughts.

“So you’ve done your research,” Sirius noted with a slight satisfaction. He hadn’t assumed Remus to be dumb, but he didn’t know how much the other man knew from having grown up with Fenrir. He grinned as he saw a frown appear on Remus’s face again, and Sirius wished that he knew right at that moment what was going through the other man’s head.

“I am not stupid,” Remus huffed, and Sirius watched as the werewolf’s eyes scanned over the coffee table and along the book titles, doing a good job of attempting to avoid Sirius’s gaze.

“Well then, tell me what you know, and I’ll tell you if it’s right,” Sirius countered hoping that he could entice Remus in some friendly playful teasing.

“Your name is Sirius Orion Black. You are the son of Orion and Walburga Black, you’ve got a brother called Regulus Black. You both went to Hogwarts but were sorted into different houses. You were publicly disowned when you were 17 years old, and have been working in the Ministry since you finished Hogwarts. However, you didn’t go to become an Auror like your best friend, which either proves that you’re not such an idiot as I think you are, or that someone didn’t let you into the programme,” Remus replied instantly, his voice calm and collected as he looked at Sirius. Sirius clapped proudly in his hands and then turned slightly so that he was facing the werewolf instead.

“Well done, you’ve indeed done your research, but I guess that’s only fair with how I have everything written down about you. Anyway, I was indeed disowned when I was young because my mother wanted to marry me off to Narcissa Black, now Malfoy, and I refused. And the only reason that I didn’t become an Auror was because I had done enough fighting in the war,” Sirius explained. He wasn’t going to go into the complete details of why he hadn’t become an Auror, it was a story that could wait for another day. He shuddered at the memory of speaking with the head of the Auror department, agreeing with him that it would probably be better if he stayed out of the field for a while.

One part of it was true, that the war had been enough for him, that he didn’t need any more of that fighting and that he simply wanted to help the people who had been left behind. However, the main reason had been because of the fragile state he had been in at that time. It had been too much for him, and at the end of all of it his mind had cracked. Of course, he had been told that he could always apply again at a later date, but had so far never felt the urge. He had better things to do with his life than to chase after dark wizards, he would leave James to do that.

For a while neither said anything, letting a comfortable silence settle between them. Sirius had never been a person to be quiet for a long period of time, always needing to talk, needing to do something with his hands and feet. However, with Remus he didn’t find the usual need for having to channel the excessive energy coursing through his veins, he found it satisfaction enough to simply watch the other man. He was just about to ask how Remus’s bruises were doing and if he would need anything, as the man’s stomach growled in hunger.

“I guess we better get something into that stomach of yours,” Sirius said with a soft chuckle, and he grinned broadly as he saw a tentative smile on Remus’s face which was followed by a soft blush along those pale cheeks.

“Come on, I saved you something,” he added, patting Remus on the shoulder and motioning him to get up on his feet, and then leading the way into the kitchen to get some proper food into the werewolf’s stomach.

The next few days went considerably easier than Sirius had expected. Remus was a very quiet and clean person, and once he had shown the other man all the books that Sirius had in his flat, he had seen Remus being content to sit on the couch and read for hours. The only time where they would really be talking would be in the evenings. They would be sitting together at the kitchen table, or in front of the small coffee table in the living room going over Sirius’s project together. While Remus told him what he would want from his side, Sirius would explain to him what might be possible.

Of course, there were still fights every now and then, but they were about smaller, less important things. Like when Sirius left his dishes in the sink too long, or that Remus ate much too little which made Sirius want to stuff the man with food during every moment of the day. But there was no banging of doors, and they slowly seemed to be getting along with one and another.

So it came when the first week had passed, and Sirius was ready to go back to work, that he found himself feeling surprised how he had ever managed to live on his own. Of course, he had had Perseus and his share of men, but that wasn’t the same. So when he finally left for work, he couldn’t help but feel nervous all day, only to have those feelings calmed when he got home in the evening to see that Remus was still there, smiling and coming up with new ideas to what he might do to improve on his project.

Once Sirius was sure that Remus wasn’t going to disappear he started to relax, and he couldn’t help but smile fondly as he watched Remus relaxing around him as well. Which brought him to the second day where he had returned home and found Remus doing something completely unexpected.

The day had been dreadful and Sirius had wanted to do nothing more than to quit his job and end this altogether. However, he told himself that it wouldn’t be wise, that no matter how much he had inherited from his uncle he needed a stable income to keep his life going as it was now. So he had gritted his teeth, taking Nikolas’s comments with a shrug of his shoulders, and had returned home that evening simply wanting to relax with a good movie.

“Remus, I am home,” Sirius called out as he came through the door, laughing as he noticed how domestic that sounded. Shaking his head, he hung up his cloak and pushed off his shoes, frowning as he heard some noises coming from the kitchen. “Are you cooking?” he called out curiously as he followed the noises in to the kitchen, picking up Perseus on the way. What he saw there stopped him in his tracks as he watched, eyes wide with surprise.

Remus was standing in front of the stove, a cook book floating up in front of him and apparently mumbling to himself as he was seasoning what looked like a very delicious stew. For a moment, Sirius could do nothing but stare, amazed how the man seemed to have so much control over the magic in his body. He grinned as Remus suddenly cried out in shock and the cook book fell on to the counter when he noticed that Sirius had been watching him.

 

  


  
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“You can’t just creep up on me like that,” Remus mumbled, trying to sound angry with a pout growing on his face that Sirius thought only made him look even cuter.

“You were doing magic,” Sirius simply replied in amazement. Putting Perseus down on the floor, he walked over to the stove where Remus was standing. Reaching out for a nearby spoon, he dipped it into the stew and then tasted it carefully. Letting out a content sound at the back of his throat, he put the spoon back down again and then looked back at Remus with a curious expression.

“I am sorry, I won’t do it again,” Remus replied, his voice suddenly sounding like a small boy who had done something wrong, making Sirius want to hug him and tell him that the world was going to be alright.

“No, that’s not... I mean,” and Sirius had to take a deep breath for a moment to calm his mind and clear up the jumbled words in his head before he continued. “I mean, it’s not a bad thing. I am more amazed. I didn’t think you were capable of doing magic,” he explained sincerely. However, he quickly saw that his words were taken the wrong way. Remus’s expression darkened as he crossed his arms, looking at Sirius with an expression that he hadn’t seen since the first day they had met.

“Oh, so you thought, stupid little werewolf, incapable of doing magic because of his affliction,” Remus said icily, making Sirius wince for a moment.

“That’s not what I said,” Sirius responded trying his hardest not to reply to Remus in the same tone that the werewolf used with him.

“Oh, but you meant it. Like every other wizard in this world. You all think we’re some inferior monster that’s not worth your attention!” Remus shouted this time, and Sirius for a moment wished for the quiet Remus back, the one that would sit with him at night and talk to him quietly. This angry Remus was something that Sirius found himself incapable of dealing with, and usually made him react with his own stubborn, angry self.

“Stop putting words in my mouth that I didn’t say,” Sirius finally snarled back, his control be damned. Letting out a frustrated huff, he pulled out his wand from his pocket. Reaching out for Remus’s hand, he pushed his wand in the werewolf’s palm and then raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, if you are that good, then go on, impress me,” Sirius said haughtily, his turn now to cross his arms and look at Remus with an expectant expression.

Sirius felt a smirk grow on his face as he for a moment watched Remus’s perplexed expression. At first, the werewolf seemed to be caught completely off guard with a wand in his hands, and then he pointed it at a nearby candle. When nothing happened Sirius frowned for a moment until he noticed Remus’s brow furrowed in deep concentration, realising that while the werewolf could probably deal very well with his own magic, he didn’t know any spells. Letting out a soft sigh, Sirius walked over to the other man so that he was standing behind him and put his hand gently over Remus’s.

“You have to try and channel your magic through the wand, and then try saying Lumos,” Sirius said softly, hoping that this would help Remus do what was asked of him. Sirius turned his face so that he could look up at the other man, smiling as he saw that concentrating expression on the man’s face.

“Lumos!” Remus said forcefully, making several things happen at once. Not only had a bright ball of light engulfed the room, but Remus had also released so much magic that Sirius found himself being forcefully propelled back against the wall with Remus landing right on top of him. It took Sirius a few minutes before he managed to get his head to stop throbbing, a grin appearing on his face as he saw the candlelight shining brightly.

“You did it!” Sirius said with a broad grin, groaning softly as Remus moved off him and turned around to face Sirius.

“Fucking hell, are you alright?” Remus asked in concern, leaning close as if to check Sirius over.

That was when Sirius noticed how close the two actually were, and he couldn’t help but reach up and touch the light bruise that was still fading away on Remus’s face. “I am alright,” Sirius said softly, his breathing getting heavier. For a moment neither moved, and if it hadn’t been for Perseus standing in the kitchen door letting out a loud meow then Sirius didn’t know what would have happened.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to Diagon Alley and getting you a wand,” Sirius said with a broad smile as Remus helped him to get back up again.

“I am allowed to have a wand?” Remus asked once they were both up on their feet again. Sirius simply shrugged, letting himself be handed his wand again and then moving to set the table.

“I don’t really care, you’ve got such a lot of magic inside of you there, it would be a shame to let it go to waste,” Sirius replied sincerely, not even wanting to think what the Ministry would say about this. He saw a surprised expression pass along Remus’s face, followed by a small tentative grin, and that Sirius told himself, was worth getting into all the trouble for.

Keeping his promise, Sirius had taken the morning off to go to Diagon Alley with Remus. He started out by giving Remus a proper tour, followed by Ollivander’s and then they went to the bookshop, getting all the various learning materials that Remus might need. At the end, they had stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for an early lunch, and Sirius had watched with a fond smile how Remus was going through all the stuff they had bought, acting like a small child who had just gotten all his Christmas and birthday presents in one day.

It made Sirius feel all distracted throughout the entire day, making him oblivious to what was happening around him. Only, as he apparated home later that night, stopping at a nearby grocery store to get some more milk and cat food, he noticed that someone was watching him. Sirius tried to ignore it as best as possible, he didn’t think there was anything to worry about. People tended to stare at him, which wasn’t only because he looked good, handsome even as Lily had pointed out one night which had ended up in James almost throwing Sirius out of the house, overcome with a surge of jealousy that apparently ran through his best friend; but also his name still attracted a lot of attention whether he wanted it or not. So Sirius ignored it.

The second time he noticed someone watching him, was when he had met with James and Lily for dinner. He had taken Remus along, not wanting the werewolf to sit alone in his flat the whole time. It had been a nice evening, and Sirius had grinned proudly as James and Remus finally seemed to be getting along. It seemed that his best friend had finally come to terms with the fact that Remus wasn’t going to murder Sirius in his sleep and that at the end Remus was actually someone nice to get along with. At the end of the night, Harry had been staying at a friend’s place for the night, it seemed as if Remus had been in their group of friends since the beginning of time.

Still, it took him by surprise when they left the restaurant that James had pulled him aside.

“You know, if you two are together, that’s not a problem. I mean, I wouldn’t care, okay?” James had mumbled and it had taken Sirius a few minutes to understand what his best friend was getting at.

“We’re not together,” Sirius had defended himself. While of course he had thought of that plenty of times, ever since the very first day he had laid his eyes upon Remus, he hadn’t though it would be wise to throw himself at the other man. He had just gained Remus’s trust, and while he enjoyed those few moments he had managed to make the other man smile, he wasn’t going to destroy that trust by throwing himself at him.

James had simply laughed it off, and Sirius had repeated those same words, the need to defend himself growing stronger by the second.

Still, James hadn’t let himself be deterred, and Sirius had still been thinking of his best friend’s words when he had disapparated back to Canterbury with Remus. Deciding to walk a bit through town before heading home, Sirius showed Remus his favourite spots in town. It was then that he noticed that they were being followed. Remus seemed to have noticed it as well as his whole body had gone rigid, and Sirius could see the man’s hands turning into fists.

“Remus…” Sirius said quietly, risking another glance behind him. What had been two men before, were now four and Sirius suddenly wished that they had apparated straight to his flat, where he knew the wards were in place and that no one unwanted could enter the place.

“They’ve come for me,” was all that Remus replied and before Sirius knew it the world had gone black around him.

When Sirius regained consciousness, he found himself tied to a chair, sitting somewhere in a large old-looking storage room. His head was throbbing and Sirius could hear the dripping of water somewhere in a nearby sink. He blinked a few times, attempting to get his vision to come into focus and tensed as he saw Remus lying curled up tightly on the ground, crying. Around him were 4 large men, all looking way too pleased with themselves, making Sirius’s anger fuel every nerve of his body.

“Leave him alone!” Sirius shouted, attempting to turn the attention on to himself. With success, because soon enough four menacing glares were directed at him and for a moment Sirius wondered if for once he should have kept his big mouth shut.

“Look at him, Remus, he’s protecting you, like the faithful human he is,” one of the men said haughtily, which resulted in the other three men laughing in reply. Sirius struggled as the larger of them walked up to him. Sirius put on the darkest glare that he could muster, and then winced as the man threaded his fingers through Sirius’s hair and roughly pulled his head back.

“I said look at him!” the man behind Sirius snarled, and he had to watch in horror as Remus received another kick in the stomach. Only then did Remus look up at Sirius and Sirius’s anger burned hot when he saw the marks on his face. “Is this what you left the pack for? This scraggly human,” the man asked, and Sirius could see Remus swallow.

“I had no other choice!” Remus shouted, his voice desperate and pained, making Sirius wonder what the men had done to Remus before he had regained consciousness.

“Yes, you had! You know right well that you had,” the man snarled, and for a moment Sirius felt like he was simply someone in the audience. They were all talking around him as if he wasn’t even there, if he was just an object that was being fought over. Not liking this feeling at all, he turned his gaze away from Remus and up at the man behind him.

“You know, as fascinating as I find your conversation, it would be nice if you’d let go of my hair,” Sirius said sarcastically, which earned him a loud laugh and then a hit over the head. However, it had the wanted reaction and the man moved away from him and back over to Remus.

“He’s a funny thing, your human. But I wonder, whatever has you so attached to this man that you’ve ignored every message to come back to your pack, to come back home. You’ve disappointed us, Remus, you’re nothing more then a piece of filth, and you know what we do with filth,” the man murmured and Sirius could feel a shiver crawl down his spine. He had brought Remus into all this, and right now there was nothing that he could do to protect the other man.

“It’s not his fault!” Sirius shouted, making everyone look at him once again. “I held him back. It’s my fault,” he added, his eyes moving over to Remus’s. For a moment they just looked at one and another, and Sirius could see the shock and some kind of realisation in Remus’s eyes. It was as if Remus was looking at him properly for the first time, his expression so unguarded as Sirius had never seen it before, and it was breathtaking. Swallowing, Sirius watched as Remus was pulled up by his arms and then led away from Sirius.

“Hey! Where are you going?! HEY!” Sirius shouted, struggling once more against his bonds as he watched the four men leave with Remus.

Once they were all out of sight, Sirius tried everything possible to get free, which only resulted in the chair toppling over with him still tied to it. He groaned as his head once more connected with the ground, feeling dizzy for a moment before he managed to focus on his surroundings. He kept staring in the direction the werewolves had disappeared, ordering himself not to allow himself to fall asleep, but to wait and hope that someone would eventually return.

He had no idea how many hours had passed when the big guy from earlier on came back, pulling Remus along with him. He watched them closely for a moment, a glare once more appearing on his face as the large man came up to him. Sirius couldn’t withhold the wince as he and the chair were righted up again, his glare darkening as he was patted on the cheek.

“Remus and I here have come to a small agreement,” the man said haughtily, and Sirius turned his gaze back over to the other werewolf. The man looked exhausted, his body was slightly haunched and Sirius could see another set of bruises forming on Remus’s face, and Sirius wondered how many others covered the man’s body.

“We agreed that if he wants to stay in the pack he will turn you into one of us, because you see, Remus is still a virgin in this regard. Aren’t you, little Remus,” the man drawled, patting Remus on the head like patting a dog and then shoved him in Sirius’s direction.

It took a few seconds before Sirius was able to understand what the man had meant with those words. When he did, an expression of pure horror passed over Sirius’s face and he swallowed, suddenly feeling rather weak and vulnerable. He had done a lot of things in his life that should have been shocking, but hadn’t bothered to care about it. There was the day he had run away from home, had turned his back on everything including his brother. He hadn’t been nervous the day where he had told his best friend that he was gay, nor had he been nervous the day when he had stepped in front of his best friend to protect him from a curse. Until now, the thought of losing James, and Lily and Harry as well, was the thing that had scared him most in his life. But now, sitting here, knowing that he might be turned into a werewolf, that was something he was really not willing to experience.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Sirius raised his head and had to admit that he was surprised at seeing a scared expression on Remus’s face as well. Neither of them wanted this, but neither of them were in any position to defend himself. So Sirius did the only thing that came to his mind, and bared his neck. For a while the room was deathly quiet, not a sound could be heard but his own and Remus’s heavy breathing almost echoing through the place.

“You’re really not like everyone else,” Remus whispered hoarsely and then suddenly turned around and pulled his wand out of his pocket, the one they had just gotten in Diagon Alley a few days ago, and pointed it at the other man.

“Remus… what are you doing?” the big man asked, utterly confused. “Why are you pointing that stick at me?”

“Shut up!” Remus shouted, and Sirius could clearly see how the other man’s hands were shaking, fingers clenched around his wand as if he was scared that he was going to drop it. “Sirius… what do I…” Remus added quickly, his nervousness returning. They hadn’t really gone through any spells yet, definitely none to defend yourself with which would have been bloody convenient right now.

“Say stupefy!” Sirius said anxiously, wishing and hoping that whatever luck had gotten them this far would be enough for the spell to work.

“STUPEFY!” Remus shouted angrily, and Sirius watched with a satisfied grin as the force of the spell sent the man stumbling back, finally falling to the ground with a thump. Letting out a hoarse laugh, Sirius pressed his eyes tightly closed, wishing that he could pinch himself so that he could reassure himself that this was really real. Forcing his eyes to open again, he looked back at Remus, who looked rather shocked, his whole body still as if frozen in time.

“Remus… it’s alright, Remus, come here… you’ve got to untie a bloke here,” Sirius tried teasing slightly, anything that would distract Remus from the obvious right now. He watched as Remus seemed to be moving towards him in slow motion, moving behind Sirius to untie the man from the chair. As soon as Sirius was free he got up on his feet, only to feel his legs suddenly give out under him. He was surprised to find himself suddenly kneeling on the ground, with Remus crouching in front of him, holding on to Sirius as if his life depended on it.

“I am sorry… I am so sorry…” Remus whispered hoarsely, and Sirius let out a hoarse sob himself, tentatively wrapping his arms tightly around Remus in return.

“I never wanted… fuck… I am so sorry…” Remus continued to mumble, leaning in to bury his face in Sirius’s chest. For a moment Sirius felt shock creeping through his system. Remus, shy, cold, unemotional Remus Lupin, the guy who hadn’t let Sirius closer than three feet before growing tense, was now curled up in Sirius’s arms and having an emotional breakdown. It all felt rather confusing for Sirius right now, but he guessed that it didn’t really matter after a day like this.

“It’s alright, Remus… let me just borrow your wand,” Sirius whispered hoarsely in reply. Without waiting for an answer he reached out to extract Remus’s wand from the man’s hand and softly mumbled an Expecto Patronum. He smiled as the white fog-like dog appeared in front of him, wagging his tail slowly behind himself.

“Go and get James, Padfoot. Show him where to come,” Sirius said seriously, the whole time pointing his wand at the Patronus. He watched it run around in a circle a few times and then rush off into the darkness, and he found himself hoping that James wouldn’t take too long.

 

***

  


  


_Love doesn’t come in a minute,_   
_Sometimes it doesn’t come at all,_   
_I only know that when I’m in it,_   
_It isn’t silly, no, it isn’t silly, love isn’t silly_   
_At all_

  
It had taken James exactly 15 minutes to arrive at the scene, followed by several other Aurors. Apparently, Sirius and Remus had been missing for a good 24 hours, so when Sirius’s Patronus had arrived James had alerted everyone possible to help find his best friend. While Sirius appreciated the gesture, he asked James if he would mind not dragging so much attention to him the next time he found himself in need of a rescue, as Sirius seriously would prefer to imagine himself in a better state when this many eyes were looking down at him.

Once they had gotten out of the place, been brought to the Ministry to make a statement, “All protocol, you know how it works in the Ministry,” James had said, and then had gotten home again it was almost time to go to bed for the night.

Neither Sirius nor Remus were much in the mood to talk that night, but they also didn’t feel like being alone. They had ended up curling up together on the couch, fast asleep as soon as their heads landed on the pillow. They didn’t talk about this the next morning, nor did they talk about what had happened. Sirius had the feeling that both of them were rather happy to simply ignore what had happened and simply continue their lives like before. Still, there were small changes that couldn’t be ignored.

On the second night, where Sirius was lying in his warm bed, staring up at the ceiling lost in thought, the door to his bedroom creaked open. Without saying a word, Remus walked quietly into the room and up to the bed. Only hesitating for a moment, he crawled under the blanket next to Sirius and curled up against his body, resting his head on Sirius’s chest.

Chuckling softly, Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus’s body and leaned down to press a small kiss against Remus’s head and then let his eyes fall closed. He hadn’t even noticed that he had fallen asleep, until he blinked his eyes open again and saw the sun shining into his bedroom. Letting out a soft groan, he reached up with one hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he noticed something peculiar. Remus was still lying in his bed with him, still curled up against his chest, apparently still sleeping rather soundly.

“I can hear your thoughts working in your brain, stop that,” Remus suddenly mumbled, apparently not as fast asleep as Sirius had thought, making Sirius let out a small undignified squeak of surprise, blushing as he realised what he had just been thinking of.

“You confuse me,” Sirius stated, considering the reason completely obvious, his voice still sounding slightly hoarse and a lot sleepier then Remus’s had seconds ago. He whimpered as he felt Remus pull away and move to lie on his side, his head propped up on his elbow.

“What is there to be confused about? I like you, you apparently like me, so isn’t it supposed to be like this?” Remus asked, looking even more confused than Sirius felt. Sirius couldn’t help but smile as he saw the confused expression on Remus’s face, not hesitating this time as he reached out to brush some hair out of Remus’s face, the back of his fingers carefully caressing along Remus’s cheek.

“Point taken… but you hated me until yesterday,” Sirius explained.

“I didn’t hate you, I was… cautious,” Remus replied instantly, making Sirius raise an eyebrow. Not knowing how to respond to this, Sirius put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes again. So Remus liked him. Had admitted that he liked him and hadn’t yet escaped out of Sirius’s bedroom, even though he apparently knew very well that Sirius liked Remus as well.

“Is this a bad thing?” Remus asked nervously, making Sirius open his eyes again and look at the werewolf with a soft smile.

“No… not at all, you just surprised me,” Sirius replied sincerely looking up at Remus with a warm smile. It turned into a grin as he saw Remus return the smile, having the feeling that everything might actually be going in a good direction for the both of them.

They spent a few more hours in bed cuddling, until both of their stomachs decided it was time to get up and get some food. Everything had relaxed completely between them, every now and then even sharing small touches while Sirius was trying to catch up on what he had missed the past 24 hours, including apparating into the Ministry for a few hours to see how much work was waiting for him, only to return home as soon as people started asking stupid questions. Especially Nikolas who once more hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut. And when Sirius had come home tired, Remus had been there hugging him, holding on to him as if his life depended on it, and Sirius had to admit that he could get used to coming home to this every day.

As the days passed they slowly got a routine into their lives. While Sirius was at work Remus was now spending his days with Lily and Harry. Lily had a calmer and more patient way of introducing Remus to the magical world, and Sirius could only watch with fascination as the man grew steadily more controlled about his magic. And while the two were growing even closer by every day, and there was no longer a single night Sirius would spend alone in bed, they hadn’t gotten around to kissing yet. Sirius didn’t really know why, Remus had never initiated any kind of contact like that, the closest being him curled up against Sirius’s chest and rubbing his cheek against his skin as if he was scent marking. Which, if Sirius really thought about it, was probably exactly what the man was doing without really being aware of it.

Still, with Sirius knowing what was finally available to him, his mind was slowly losing its patience, the need to give Remus time or hold back because it wasn’t right slowly giving way to other needs. So, he told himself that if Remus could surprise him by suddenly being all cuddly, he could surprise the other man by showing him what he wanted in return.

Which was why, after two good weeks when the shock had finally worn off completely and it seemed like they had been sharing a flat for years, Sirius had decided that it was time to really show his charm. Without telling Remus, Sirius had apparated home early that Friday afternoon with a huge bag of groceries that he had managed to buy during his lunch break. Not waiting another second, Sirius had prepared a full three course meal and then had even managed to change into some finer-looking clothes. When Remus came home, Sirius greeted Remus with a warm smile, the smile widening to a grin as he saw the other man’s appreciative gaze linger on him for a moment.

“You look posh,” Remus noted softly, and Sirius couldn’t help but grin at the fact that the other man seemed to like his appearance.

Not saying anything yet, Sirius helped Remus out of his jacket and then lead the way to the kitchen where he had prepared everything. It were moments like these when he was happy for his Pureblood upbringing, knowing that otherwise he would have been helpless in preparing the dining table and the proper atmosphere for the night. He grinned once more in satisfaction as he saw the surprised expression on Remus’s face, then motioned for the other man to step into the kitchen before him.

“Did you do all of this?” Remus asked, and Sirius nodded, glad that he managed not to blush.

“I thought with everything that has been going on, you deserved a nice dinner,” Sirius explained. “Take a seat,” he added and then headed over to the counter, where an open bottle of red wine was already waiting for them. Once Remus was seated, he filled their glasses with the red wine and then prepared the starter. He had thought the menu through the whole morning, and had decided that he could properly not go wrong if he tried to cook something Italian. So as a starter he had decided on a carpaccio, followed by some spaghetti with homemade pesto sauce, and then as a dessert mousse au chocolate. He just hoped that everything tasted as it should.

Letting out a soft sigh, Sirius reached out for Remus’s plate, and put the carpaccio down in front of him before reaching out for his own plate. Suddenly feeling rather shy, he avoided Remus’s gaze while he sat down and took another deep breath to calm his nerves. He knew that he could cook, many people had told him before that he could, but this felt so much different. This was trying to woo the person who he had apparently fallen in love with and it made his insides all fluttery with feelings he had never felt before.

“What are you nervous about?” Remus asked suddenly, making Sirius look up in surprise. Clearing his throat, he reached out for his glass of wine, swirling it in his hand before leaning in to test the aroma.

“Whoever said that I was nervous?” Sirius retorted when he finally managed to find his voice again, looking back up at Remus with a broad and confident smile, hoping that it would somehow hide how he was really feeling at the moment.

“Liar,” Remus simply replied and Sirius couldn’t help but stare at him with a surprised expression. He tried to quickly shake off the feeling again, this feeling of vulnerability that no matter what he was doing Remus could see right through it.

“So what, you don’t seem to mind anyway,” Sirius explained himself, and he grinned in satisfaction this time as he saw the blush appearing on Remus’s cheeks. So there were still things he could surprise the werewolf with, that was satisfying.

“Touché,” Remus murmured, reaching out for his own glass in return and raising it at Sirius.

“To a good evening,” Sirius said softly, lifting his own glass and clinking it against Remus’s. He let out a soft sigh as he then took a sip from the wine, feeling the alcohol cool his nerves for a moment, hoping that the fact that Remus hadn’t run away by now meant he would stick around for the rest of the evening.

“To a good evening,” Remus replied in the same soft kind of voice, and Sirius couldn’t help but watch as the werewolf took a sip of the wine and then slowly licked his lips savouring the taste. He found himself wondering how those lips would taste right now, that if Sirius licked his tongue against those full red lips would he still be able to taste the red wine on them. He swallowed as he realised where his thoughts were going, locking them quickly away again for later, for the time after dinner where he would have Remus close enough to try out all those things.

Reaching out for his knife and fork, Sirius started to eat slowly, often looking up at Remus again to make sure the other man was enjoying the food. When there didn’t seem to be a need for rushing to the bathroom, which had happened to James the first time Sirius had tried to cook something, he still shuddered at the memory, Sirius felt a calm spreading through his body and started to eat with a more reassured feeling.

They didn’t say anything until Sirius was bringing the dessert and he grinned as Remus let out a soft groan.

“This still has to be eaten, would be a shame to see it go to waste,” Sirius said with a smirk.

“How can you eat so much food and not feel full already?” Remus asked with an incredulous expression and Sirius couldn’t help but shrug, sitting down opposite Remus again.

“I don’t know, I can always eat, no matter what,” he explained. The only time he hadn’t been able to eat anything had been after Regulus’s death, where life had suddenly ceased to be important and he wanted nothing more than to be buried next to his brother.

“I can tell,” Remus drawled reaching out for his spoon. Still grinning, Sirius leaned back in his chair, holding his small bowl in his hands, savouring every spoonful. He watched with satisfaction as Remus slowly ate the mousse, seeming to enjoy it as much as he had enjoyed the rest of the food. This time, however, Sirius wasn’t able to hold himself back from touching the other man as he saw some chocolate on Remus’s cheek.

“You’ve got something there,” he mumbled. Leaning forward, Sirius put his bowl on the table and then reached out to gently wipe the chocolate off the other man’s cheek. He grew still as he felt Remus’s whole body freeze under the touch and he wondered for a moment if he had hoped for too much and Remus seriously wanted nothing more than a normal friendship.

“You know I won’t hurt you, right?” Sirius asked hoarsely, not pulling his hand away from Remus’s cheek yet. He wanted to test the waters, he wanted to be right, wanted to know that the other man really wanted him and hadn’t just curled up next to him the last few nights to have a warm body to comfort him.

“I know…” Remus mumbled, and his breathing was suddenly becoming heavier and Sirius could feel how the other man’s jaw slowly relaxed under his touch.

“Good,” was all that Sirius seemed able to say. Blowing whatever self control he had left aside, he leaned over the table and pressed his lips against Remus’s. It was heaven. That was all he could think of. They were just as soft as Sirius had imagined them to be, and he groaned as he let his tongue sneak out and lick slowly along the other man’s lips. There was something feral in the way he tasted and Sirius could feel it going straight to his cock.

He was just about to pull back and give Remus a chance to tell him to bugger off, when he suddenly felt him returning the kiss. It was tender at first, but soon enough it turned passionate and Sirius suddenly found his mouth full of the other man’s tongue and he realised that Remus might not be as much of a virgin as Sirius had imagined him to be.

So when he finally did pull out of the kiss, their breaths were coming in heavy puffs and Sirius couldn’t help but grin like a fool as he sat back down in his chair.

“I… you… me… fuck,” Remus mumbled, blushing and Sirius found it rather cute how incoherent the other man suddenly was.

“That can be solved,” Sirius assured with a grin, feeling it softening at the edges as he saw Remus looking up at him with a hesitant expression. It was that moment when Sirius realized that he would have been rather heartbroken if Remus had told him that nothing would ever happen between them, and that he would go on with his life looking for someone else. He had truly fallen in love with the man, and it was a wonderful even if shocking sensation.

“You have no sense of decency at all, do you?” Remus asked shyly, and Sirius couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh at that.

“You only noticed that now?” Sirius asked in return, eyebrow raised, grinning as he watched Remus blush and shake his head. Still feeling like he had to take this slow, even if Remus hadn’t run away screaming yet, or had punched him in any place where it might be a little more than painful, Sirius summoned the bottle of wine and filled up their glasses again.

“Of course not,” Remus finally said indignantly, reaching out for his glass and taking a small sip from the freshly poured wine before looking back at Sirius. “The first day I met you I thought you were an obnoxious bastard who was having fun riling up people as a hobby, and spent your free time throwing darts at people’s picture heads,” Remus continued to explain. Sirius frowned for a moment at that, trying to imagine himself actually doing that and then let out a soft laugh, reaching out for his own glass to take a long sip from it.

“That sounds like something the rest of my family would do,” Sirius replied with a small shrug. He couldn’t help but be satisfied as he saw the shocked expression on Remus’s face, glad to see that there were some things the werewolf hadn’t yet managed to find out about him.

“Why do you say that?” Remus asked curiously, and Sirius watched as the other man leaned forward, leaning his elbows on the table, his expression seriously curious.

“Well… to start off, already my ancestors meddled a lot with black magic, dark arts, anything that would get them to the top of the food chain. This was passed down from one generation to the next, with an occasional black sheep in the family. Like me,” Sirius said, raising his hand figuratively and then continuing. “We used to have the heads of our deceased house-elves mounted on the wall at home, and we had one room where I was never allowed to enter as a child because of all the dark magic inside.”

“That sounds horrible,” Remus mumbled quietly, making Sirius just shrug. It was something he had long ago left behind, they were not his family anymore, he had his own more important family right now.

“So, tell me a little about yourself instead,” Sirius said enquiringly, putting one arm on the table and reaching out to put his hand gently on top of Remus’s. He felt the other man tense for the shortest moment of time, and then Sirius’s smile softened as he felt Remus’s hand turn around and lightly hold on to Sirius’s.

“There is really nothing to tell,” Remus replied, and Sirius couldn’t help but give Remus’s hand an immediate squeeze.

“Well, that’s not true. You’re an interesting man, have an unhealthy obsession with the amount of books I call junk, you hog me at night which I find rather cute, you can do magic… you’re beautiful, interesting, and sometimes you have this expression as if you don’t know what to do with the world surrounding you,” Sirius explained, chuckling softly as he noticed how he had been babbling along and instantly reached out for his glass of wine to take a long sip from it.

For a while neither of them said anything, the earlier urge of wanting to simply touch and kiss Remus having dissipated a little inside Sirius, and for now just feeling happy to be able to sit here and speak with the other man.

“You think I am cute?” Remus asked after a while, and Sirius chewed on his lower lip for a moment, feeling that blush grow on his cheeks again, something that he definitely would have to learn to control.

“So what if I said that,” he finally replied, sounding a little defensive.

“I wasn’t angry about it…”

“Then why do you ask?”

“Why do you always need an explanation for everything?” Remus asked clearly frustrated, and Sirius couldn’t help but simply raise an eyebrow at the werewolf, chuckling as he heard a mumbled sorry immediately coming from the other man’s lips.

“Talking about explanations, why did you hate me so much at first?” Sirius couldn’t help but ask, frowning as he saw a surprised expression on the other man’s face.

“I didn’t hate you,” Remus said with a defiant pout.

“Well, you told me that the other day already, but still you can’t call that being cautious, because you certainly made sure to show me that you didn’t like me,” Sirius said sincerely, his thumb caressing slowly over the back of Remus’s hand. He watched with amusement as Remus let out a small amused snort, and he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Well, I couldn’t just tell you that you were a quite good looking guy and that it wasn’t fair to have someone to be that nice and good looking,” Remus simply explained looking up at Sirius with a small pout. Not being able to help himself, Sirius let out a soft laugh, wondering how his colleagues would react were he to tell them that. He remembered very clearly how smug Nikolas had been when Remus had run out of his office, and Sirius couldn’t wait to tell the other man how far he had gotten with Remus now.

“Even that time you ran out of my office?” he couldn’t help but ask, grinning as this time Remus let out a small chuckle.

“That time, I was rather angry at you,” Remus admitted which had both of them immediately succumb to a fit of laughter.

For a while neither of them said anything, sipping their wine quietly while Sirius continued to hold Remus’s hand in his own, his thumb absently caressing the skin. Once his glass was empty, Sirius got out of his chair, never letting go of Remus’s hand as he moved to stand in front of him. Smiling softly, he tugged the werewolf gently to his feet and lead the way out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom. He saw Remus hesitate for a moment, and Sirius waited, wanting to give Remus the chance to tell him that he wasn’t ready for that. He was, however, more than surprised when he felt Remus letting go of his hand and instead placed his hands on Sirius’s chest, gently pushing him towards the bed.

“I thought you’d never invite me to bed,” Remus said, a husky tone to his voice that made Sirius feel a pleasant shiver run down his back. He had never heard Remus talk like that, and he could feel that hot sensual voice going straight to his cock, turning off every logical thought that was left in his mind.

“I was trying restraint,” Sirius said hoarsely, letting out a soft ‘uff’ as he was suddenly pushed down on his bed. He realized that this Remus, who was currently moving to straddle him and had this absolutely sexy feral grin on his face, was completely different to the one who had sat opposite him during dinner.

“I could tell… Damn, do you know how good you smell?” Remus asked in that same tone of voice and Sirius couldn’t help but let out a soft groan as Remus nuzzled his neck, instantly baring it to the other man. Usually, he was the one on top, but with Remus he didn’t care and he definitely wouldn’t mind if Remus ended up fucking him through the mattress so that Sirius would be able to feel it for days.

“You confuse me,” Sirius whispered quietly, his body already going into pleasure mode, right now wanting nothing more than to give in to each wonderful touch.

“Well then, allow me to make myself less confusing,” Remus mumbled, and less confusing it became.

Sirius couldn’t remember when they had finally succumbed to sleep, feeling pleasantly sore all over his body and now certain that he had made the right decision all along..

From that point on things only got better for them..

A few months later, the two had moved out of Sirius’s flat, into a small cottage where Remus could safely transform during the full moon and they were both able to retreat into their own private rooms whenever they felt the need for privacy. Sirius had managed to get a hearing before the Wizengamot, with Remus’s help of course, and was now Head of the Department of Magical Creatures at the Ministry. He could still clearly remember that gleeful feeling when he had walked up to Nikolas and had told him that it was time for him to search for another job, knowing fully that this time the other man had no chance of talking back at him.

Also for Remus things seemed to be improving. Sirius had succeeded in tracking down where Remus’s father lived, and had somehow managed to convince the man to meet up with his biological father. At first, it had been rather tense, but soon enough John Lupin became a part of the family and Sirius wouldn’t want to miss their weekly Friday dinners, which was later usually joined by James and a round of poker. Adding to that, Remus had managed to find a job at a nearby library, and Sirius smiled at the memory of Remus’s proud grin when he had gotten the news.

Of course, they still had their ups and downs. It had taken a while for Remus to completely open up to Sirius, to tell him about all the things that had happened in his youth and his problem with trusting anyone who wasn’t a werewolf. And Sirius had needed to learn when it was time to not be overbearing, to let Remus take a breather and also to recognise the right moment when he needed to give the other man a small push in the right direction.

Still, life couldn’t be better, and now a year later as Sirius sat in James and Lily’s garden, he didn’t want to change a thing. Letting out a soft sigh, he opened his eyes and watched with a loving smile as Remus chased Harry across the lawn, a broad content smile on his lover’s face.

“You really do love him, don’t you?” a voice suddenly said, and Sirius jumped slightly in surprise, his head snapping up and smiling with relief when he saw Lily standing next to him.

“I do,” Sirius admitted softly, letting his arms rest against his legs and some strands of his black hair fall over his eyes.

“That’s good, you two deserve one another,” she added softly and then called out for Harry. Sirius lifted his head a little and watched as Harry rushed over to Lily, letting her lead him inside. Shaking his head in amusement, Sirius leaned back in his chair and smiled as Remus instantly walked up to him.

“Having fun?” Sirius asked softly, sitting up a little again as he felt one of Remus’s hands in his hair, leaning into it with a soft sigh.

“Yeah… he’s such a ball of energy,” Remus replied with a soft chuckle, leaning down to press his lips against Sirius’s forehead.

“That he is, just like his dad,” Sirius said with a broad smile and then he looked up at Remus and felt his breath catch. Remus looked so beautiful right now and he was looking down at Sirius with such a lot of love, that for a moment Sirius didn’t know what to say.

“Are you happy?” he finally managed to ask, smiling as he saw Remus’s smile broaden.

“Yes, I am,” Remus replied softly and Sirius reached up to thread his hand through Remus’s hair and pull him down for a tender kiss.

“I am glad to have met you, you’re really not like everyone else,” Remus said softly, and Sirius knew right at that moment that he was going to live happily ever after.


End file.
